OpenTTD

Transport Tycoon and its modern Linux-compatible clone OpenTTD are transport games where you set up an infrastructure to transport passengers and cargo across huge isometric maps. The games tend to focus on trains, as the road vehicles and ships are too slow and the planes are expensive. What geek doesn't like a complex rail network?

I discovered OpenTTD about a year ago (early 2007), but only just started playing it now in March 2008. I avoided it because of what I thought were things that made it too easy: Pre-signals, relaxed rules for stations, relaxed land slope rules, and others. But those things actually add to the gameplay, letting you pack things closer together (more complex layouts!) in a more realistic manner.

But I really like the user interface improvements in OpenTTD. Trains (and other vehicles) are much easier to manage through lists that can be sorted. You can order all your trains, selected by type if necessary, to go upgrade their engines. No more one-train-at-a-time click-click. No more Repititive Stress Injury. Rail upgrades are easier too, though I haven't played that far in my first OpenTTD game yet. The news interface warns you of poorly-performing vehicles. The total points are broken down by category so you can see what you need to do.

Vehicles can share their orders with others of the same type, which means better management of schedules. Orders can include depots (no more forced servicing) and waypoints (no more silly signalling tricks).

Did I mention the graphics packs? They're there.

Things that suck: electric rails, because I can't quite see where I still have non-electrified sections (this is early 2008, remember, and OpenTTD is still under development). Everything is tiny in windowed-mode, so I can't see anything.

When I loaded a saved game from Transport Tycoon (see saved games below), I found that OpenTTD has fixed several bugs in TTD that were useful cheats. The things that bit me right away were that the tiles under a refinery are not considered land any more. Thus my stations that were attached to refineries flooded immediately. I lost several trains. The saved game file (below) shows I replaced that stuff with lots of ships. (I just realised that stations in OpenTTD do not have to be at the same level -- so I can build a rail station on a piece of sloped land next to the oil refineries. Problem solved. Still an expensive loss, though. I must have lost 10 million in the replacement of the flooded infrastructure with ships, and will lose more to put in new stations.)

The old build on water trick (build a dock, bulldoze it, quickly buy the land -- liberal use of the pause key) no longer works. The flooding happens too fast, I think. Apparently bought land which is completely at sea level will also flood. On the plus side, you can build on slopes so instead of raising 6 points to make the canonical bridge support with space for signals on a two-track mainline, you can get away with raising just 2 points, thanks to the ability to build on sloped tiles. See below:

OpenTTD makes bridges easier and cheaper

2013: But, you can now build stuff while paused. Still can't build on water, but that was a bug in TTd anyway.

OpenTTD web site

Scenarios

My first OpenTTD scenario, a small one: Industry Wonderland. It might seem silly to veteran players but I wanted an industry-rich small world to play in. It's not always about hardship, you know.
Industry Wonderland saved games (1964, 1970, 1993) are available.

Saved games

My first OpenTTD game: 200803.zip. It's the smallest map size. The year is 1983, all rails are electrified, and business is somewhat booming. Includes newer saved game files.

I started playing this New York-based scenario last year in Transport Tycoon. This zip file contains the saved game after moving it to OpenTTD in April 2008 and fixing the oil network and tweaking the rest. Game year: 1998.
Includes save game from game year 2000 -- oil network is being fixed, monorails have been introduced.
Includes save game from game year 2015.

Saved games for Final Fantasy scenario downloaded from East Town. Played with r12932 or better of OpenTTD.
1970: Start of game
1975: Buses and trucks everywhere.
1992: Fewer trucks, more ships and trains. Tight spacing causes ridiculous layouts.
2005: I'm tired of this map. I want to play one of the new big ones, with a big layout.

Saved games:

My 2013 NewGRF settings

NewGRFs are a way to get new vehicles and new functions for vehicles. My settings are recorded here for myself more than anyone else. 

[preset-full]
1_other/townnames/japanese/jpset_namw.GRF = 
2_landscape/jpset_lnd/jpset_lndw.GRF = 
4_infrastructure/totalbridges/total_bridges.grf = 
4_infrastructure/trafficset/trafficset_v3w.grf = 
4_infrastructure/tramtrk/tramtrkw.grf = 
6_town_buildings/jpset_bld/jpset_bldw.GRF = 
6_town_buildings/ttrs3/ttrs3w.GRF = 
7_stations/basic_platforms/basic_platformsw.grf = 
7_stations/harbour/harbourw_456.grf = 
7_stations/indstatr/indstatrw.grf = 
7_stations/modernsuburban/modernsuburbanw.GRF = 
7_stations/newstats/newstatsw.grf = 
8_vehicles/jptrains/jptrains2w.grf = 
8_vehicles/newships/newshipsw.grf = 
8_vehicles/trams/generictrams/generictrams_v0.4.grf = 
8_vehicles/trams/moderntram/moderntramset.grf = 
8_vehicles/usset/ussetw.grf = 
OpenGFX/newbuildings.grf = 
OpenGFX/OpenGFX_NewIndustries_v0.10.1.grf = 
japanese_stations.2.0/jpstationsw.grf = 

[preset-minimal]
2_landscape/jpset_lnd/jpset_lndw.GRF = 
4_infrastructure/totalbridges/total_bridges.grf = 
8_vehicles/jptrains/jptrains2w.grf = 
8_vehicles/trams/generictrams/generictrams_v0.4.grf = 
8_vehicles/usset/ussetw.grf = 

[preset-pax]
2_landscape/jpset_lnd/jpset_lndw.GRF = 
4_infrastructure/totalbridges/total_bridges.grf = 
8_vehicles/jptrains/jptrains2w.grf = 
8_vehicles/trams/generictrams/generictrams_v0.4.grf = 
8_vehicles/usset/ussetw.grf = 
1_other/townnames/japanese/jpset_namw.GRF = 
4_infrastructure/tramtrk/tramtrkw.grf = 
7_stations/modernsuburban/modernsuburbanw.GRF = 
7_stations/newstats/newstatsw.grf = 
8_vehicles/trams/moderntram/moderntramset.grf = 
japanese_stations.2.0/jpstationsw.grf =

My pre-2013 NewGRF settings

openttd.cfg (#openttdcoop's version 7.3 graphics pack):
ottdc_grfpack/1_other/OpenGFX/newbuildings.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/7_stations/basic_platforms/basic_platformsw.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/7_stations/indstatr/indstatrw.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/7_stations/newstats/newstatsw.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/8_vehicles/ships/newships/newshipsw.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/8_vehicles/trains_wagons/usset/ussetw.grf =
ottdc_grfpack/8_vehicles/trams/generictrams/generictrams_v0.4.grf =